Multi-Team Relay Party at Silver Creek

Last night high above the Silver Creek sim, there was a Relay party that was originally intended to raise funds for Team Shadow, but they invited other teams to put up their kiosks, and a number of others did, including the Steelhead Salmons, which at 195,000L are closing in on the 200K mark, and the Sunbeamers.

Besides yours truly, other Sunbeamers included Shockwave Yareach, Cynthia Farshore, and chieftess Rita Mariner. Rita made a rare appearance in her custom-made fox avatar, looking a bit like a harem girl as it was dressed in silks. Other notable Relayers included Oldesoul Eldemar, Cuddly Waffle, Madonna Daehlie, and others.

The Sunbeamers made a few thousand Lindens that day, at 217,000 Lindens raised are the third highest of the Silver ranked teams. With the Road Rally Sunbeamer event in a couple days, Gold status is within sight.

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

Press Release: "The Art & History of the Microscope"

University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy Presents:
"The Art and History of the Microscope"

By Gary Greenberg
Friday, June 26th at 9:30 PM PDT
Institute for Astronomy - U. Hawaii Astronomy Amphitheater: 

Web: http://ps1puka.ps1.ifa.hawaii.edu

In the year 1600, the existence of a microscopic world was utterly unimaginable.  A few years later, Robert Hooke published his famous book, "Micrographia: Or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquires Thereupon". This was the world’s first best seller, and it revealed for the first time the hidden world that exists beyond our everyday perception. Since its invention, visionaries have used microscopes to save lives and reduce human suffering. Today, microscopes can image individual molecules and atoms, and have spawned the burgeoning field of nanotechnology.

Alliance, Chaminade University (49, 205, 4002)

SL Video: "What Second Life Means To Me - Snowhawk Przhevalsky"

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From Snowhawk Przhevalsky on Jun 17, 2015, "Yeah, I did a thing...Oops, forgot to save my edited description: This is for the 'What Second Life Means to Me project. :) https://community.secondlife.com/t5/Your-Avatar/The-What-Second-Life-Means-to-Me-Video-Share-Project/td-p/2941693

Edit: Also, since I get asked about it in world a lot, my outfit is a custom recolor from Shiro Tsuki. I have a blog post up with information and links and such: http://damantru.blogspot.com/2015/03/sl-sailor-snowhawk.html

Cartoon of the Day

At the Cake Stage at the SLB, DrFran Babcock's avatar gets a slight glitch that makes her "above it all" so to speak.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Oz Linden at the SL12B

On Monday was the first of the "Meet the Lindens" events at the auditorium at the Second Life Birthday. This would be an interview of Oz Linden by Saffia Widdershins and Jessica Lyon. The meeting was not without technical glitches as Oz crashed a couple times. Still, a number of questions were answered.

Read more about the interview in People.

SL12B: The Welcome Area and Station

 By BloodyKitty

There is an event going on, the SL12B that runs from June 21st to the 28th of June. The information has also included that the sim is also open on the 4th of July for residents to explore the particular location. This event is celebrating the birthday of Second Life, but in a cool way with tons of events. When you first arrive you are greeted with a spooky scene, but also a beautiful one if you change your lighting (or the sun settings). 

There were two people greeting (at the moment I was there) that go by Londyn2, as well as another girl but she had left before I got a chance to see her name. What was a positive for me right away was that they instantly helped me and asked if I needed any information on the sim and the event, I said I do.

Upon getting an info card if you request one by one of the fabulous hosts, it tells you on what's going on, as well as that you get two gifts which include a party hat and a flag. Aside from that there is a map of the whole place via a texture sort of file, landmarks to the major venues, and a schedule for the events going on around the land. It is when you go down from where you are greeted that the fun begins. There are teleports to different locations to different places in the sim to help people easily get around, which is a plus for me. 

What I found the best part in my opinion of the experience was that they had a train station and an actual train. It totally reminded me of Harry Potter, which unfortunately the train does not move, but it doesn't totally take away a good experience. If you look closer though you can see the station is in ruins as well as that the back of the train is all messed up. Just use your imagination on what may of happened!

Overall the world is large in itself if you take time to explore it, and there are different activities to enjoy while searching around. Because of it being a large sim and how many locations there are to teleport to, I haven't had the opportunity to exactly explore everything like I'd hope before this was put up. I believe that just touching base on the important details helps people who'd love to visit and check the place out. Have fun! 

BloodyKitty

SL Video: "What Second Life Means to Me - Caitlin Tobias"

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From Caitlin Tobias on Jun 16, 2015, "My contribution for the project for Second Life's 12th anniversary on 'what second life means to me', see more here:  https://community.secondlife.com/t5/Your-Avatar/The-What-Second-Life-Means-to-Me-Video-Share-Project/td-p/2941693

Press Release: Relay For Life Team Sunbeamers 2nd Annual Farshore Field Road Rally

    Team Sumbeamers welcome you to the Relay For Life 2nd annual Farshore Field Road Rally. The event will be on Saturday 27th June 2015 located on  Pacific Waters (77, 87, 31). This year the track is much longer and filled with twist and turns. There are even a few road hazards. The result is you will need to rely on skill rather than speed. The rally will have two classes consisting of Cars/Trucks and Motorcycles. You can race in both and the best time in 5 laps is taken. Racing starts at 8AM SLT and runs until 4PM SLT where afterwards the times are tallied and trophies given.

Questions can be sent to Cynthia Farshore via IM, notecards, or used the phone located inside The Puddle Jumper Mall located on the field.

SL Video: "What Second Life Means to Me - Strawberry Singh "

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Strawberry Singh's "What Second Life Means to Me" video, uploaded on Jun 16, 2015, "Video by Draxtor Despres, thanks Drax! A big thank you to Xiola Linden and the team behind this project for including me in it."

"Meet The Lindens" at the SL12B

From Monday to Friday this week at the SL12B, the residents will get a chance to meet up with CEO Ebbe Linden and four other members of Linden Lab. The discussions will be at the Dreamatorium (Auditorium) at SL12B Astound (202/180/22) and will take place at 1PM SL time.

The schedule on the SL12B website is as follows:

• Monday 22nd June – Oz Linden, Engineering Director, Second Life
• Tuesday 23rd June – Patch Linden, Senior Manager, Product Operations, and  Dee Linden, Land Product Specialist
• Wednesday 24th June – Xiola Linden, Lead Community Manager, and Pete Linden, Senior Director, Global Communications at Linden Lab
• Thursday  25th June – Danger Linden, Sr. Director, Product, Virtual Worlds and Troy Linden, Senior Producer
• Friday 26th June – Ebbe Linden, CEO Linden Lab

While the Lindens have been making more appearances lately, it's still an uncommon event to get a chance to meet one. So for those interested (and who isn't) here's your chance.

Cartoon of the Day

Vixen meets velociraptor, in this case Kantari Kim and one of the SL12B "Party Velociraptors."

By Bixyl Shuftan

SL12B : First Impressions

Saturday June 20 was Press Day for the Second Life Twelfth Birthday grounds. For DrFran Babcock, it was her first chance to see the builds. With time a bit limited, she only saw a few places, and wrote on two, by Asmita Duranjaya, and iSkye Silverweb. So what did she think?

Read DrFran's article in Design.

Accessorize Bollywood Style

Syndra's back with another Fashion article. This time she writes on a Bollywood-themed desingers' show at Wulf Creek. What she found didn't disappoint.

Read Syndra's article in Fashion.

Various Happenings at the SL12B

Yours truly spent most of his time at the SLB grounds before Press Day building the SL Newser exhibit, so I didn't get much of a look elsewhere. On Press Say itself, I only had a short time to get around. I didn't get the time of any official tour, so just looked around a little at the entrance sim of SL12B Beguile. The "dream" here looked more like a nightmare with this disturbing-looking train.

Not far from the train into the next sim at SL12B Impressive (224/57/24) is the exhibit of our sponsor M&M Creations, by 10 and Marcthur Gooson with their "Cottage Ma Mason."

Near the Newser exhibit at SL12BWonderous (232/231/22) is the SL Universe Forums exhibit by Soen Eber.

 Just across from the Newser's exhibit at SL12B Wonderous (233/196/22) is the "Spire" by Mac Kanashimi, whom assisted with the Cake Stage and whom some time ago worked on the "Pinwheels."

I happened to run into Mac, and had a few words with him. The hat of course was from Mikati Slade, the main builder of the Cake Stage. "So how was it working with Mikati?" I asked him. Matter of factly, he answered, "Just like 3 years ago (at the) cake stage SL9B. She made a scale 1:10 model of the cake stage, then uses my script to move an object to the right region, to the calculated real stage coordinates, then resize times 10."

Of The Spire, "(The) view from the top straight downwards is very nice." Asking him about it, "Well. take a square, then draw a square in it, but slightly smaller and slightly rotated, continue until the squares are small. Later I added the color effects and the changing from left rotating to right rotating squares, and back."

I asked him what other exhibits attracted his attention, but his answer was, "I didn't write them down, i was just flying around."

I soon had to be elsewhere, but did come across two events that evening. One was a stand up comedy performance at the Cake Stage at 4PM SL time by SL comedian Lauren Weyland.

An hour later at the Auditorium (Dreamatorium), was a group of roleplayers of the "Sanctuary" RP, discussing the history of their roleplay, and a few words from each of the players there.

Among the roleplaters was ZodiacLansing, whose words included, "Sanctuary, like several other sims, is born out of an intense love and it shows. When I arrived in the sim and explained that I was new to CCS, I was taken aside by several of the players who worked with me until I understood how things worked. Even to this day, they are willing to help me with any questions I may have. The environment of Sanctuary is one of help and kindness out of character. The members of the city are always willing to help out each other and new players so that everyone proves to the a be better player.

"When the RP starts, things can happen that are dark, but the people remain the same friendly sort who are willing to help. That's the biggest difference I have found and that is what brings me back to the city over and over again. As many will attest to, in our sim we strive very hard to create an atmosphere that sponsors RP and friendship in OOC. To me, it's the best sim."

More to come later this week. In the meantime, don't forget to stop at the Newser's exhibit at SL12B Wonderous (207/195/21).

Bixyl Shuftan

The Cake and Main Stages at the SL12B

Sunday at Noon the gates open for the SL12B! The parties begin! I thought I would give you a look at the Cake Stage by Mikati Slade. It is just so spectacular as it almost fills four sims. The dance floor is in the middle of the lower floor. The entire installation is just amazing to look at . It was so interesting to see her rezzing it. She has a trick for that.  Mikati has a unique style that has been seen at previous birthday celebrations . It is so recognizable . 

In real life Mikati is a “Digital artist from Japan, studied classical sculpture and drawing at art university. Work experience includes illustration, 3D CG, and graphic design on print media.” You can see some of her work here . https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikati/

Savor the Cake! Enjoy the entertainment. 

Toady Nakamura is the builder of the Main stage . Her work is recognizable from past birthday celebrations too. This year she and her helpers , “Flea Bussy, Wolfling Winterwolf, Food by Clover Dezno... plants and bounding boxes by iDev Resident and LimRaeth Resident, and general fixing everything we broke the wonderful Cacia Escape. Water sounds by Lorin Tone, Photography by Uccello Poultry.: environmental sounds, clock and everything else, Underfrog” and a host of other assistants. 

Toady told me they used over 12000 prims for all the stage , which is much more than a stage . It begs to be explored so don’t overlook it. Up on the top of one area there is a cake viewing point.

Look at the schedule for each stage. I will tell you about the other venues during the week.
http://www.slcommunitycelebration.info/sl12b-performance-schedule/

Gemma Cleanslate 

Editor's note: slight change made at the request of Mikati Slade

The SL Newser Exhibit For The Second Life Birthday

And here it is. The inspections are done and with a couple corrections made the Second Life Newser's exhibit for "The Birthday" is finally complete.

There are pictures of eleven reporters. each with a sample article, and of course "The Hat" on top. But the centerpiece of the exhibit is the futuristic news van by Ranchan Wiedman, with a few scenes of various happenings across Second Life.

So come on by at Noon SL time today, when "The Birthday," after weeks of planing and preparation, finally begins.

SL12B Wonderous (207/195/21)

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Video: "What SL Means to Me -- Torley Linden"

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Torley Linden's answer to "What Second Life Means to Me," posted on June 16 2015, "Torley Linden discusses what Second Life means to him in this insightful video. Second Life is an online 3D virtual world imagined and designed by you. From the moment you enter Second Life, you'll discover a universe brimming with people and possibilities.

"Create and customize your own digital 3D persona, also known as your avatar. Be a fashion diva, a business-savvy entrepreneur, or a robot or all three. Changing identities is quick and easy, so if you tire of your avatars outfit or body, shop for a new one in Second Life or from your web browser. Then switch it in seconds.

"Every minute, Residents assemble buildings, design new fashion lines and launch clubs and businesses. There's always more to see and do."

Eye on the Blog: Linden Lab's Gift SL12B Avatar And Snapshot Contest

It was a bit more than a week ago in which Linden Lab offered this year's gift avatar for the Second Life Birthday a little early to Premium Residents. Now, the avatar is available to all, at least until July 31st. And what is it? Well, it seems the Lindens were inspired by the "Jurassic World" dinosaur movie, as the avatar is a mesh velociraptor, or rather a "party velociraptor."

Imagine yourself in a jungle on a remote island brimming with possible adventures and spectacular flora and fauna to explore. Now, imagine that remote island jungle is what we’ve come to call the Second Life grid, and imagine that you are … a Velociraptor! Sounds a little bit like a pretty weird but cool dream, right?
Well you no longer have to imagine the dream - you can live it with the Second Life 12th Anniversary commemorative avatar! Pick up your free avatar at Hairy Hippo Fun Land or off the Marketplace before this raptor becomes extinct at the end of July!

Hopping over to Hairy Hippo Fun Land, one could pick up copies of the avatar through a vending machine. In a box, it had to be taken elsewhere, rezzed, and unpacked. Being mesh, the avatar was just a few pieces, with detachable sunglasses and part hat.

"But wait, there's more." Linden Lab is also having a 10,000 Linden contest for the best photo of the avatar.

Now that you’ve got your raptor - it’s time to take ‘em for a test drive. Share snapshots of your raptor avatar celebrating SL12B to the Second Life 12th Anniversary Snapshot Contest from now until July 20th, and you could win 1 of 4 incredible prizes - L$10,000 , L$5,000, L$3,000, or L$1,000!
Be creative! This limited-edition raptor has the entirety of the grid to seek out a picture-perfect spot to take a winning snapshot
To see what pictures others have taken, there's an Entries Page, including one from Crap Mariner, "The Very Ugly Duckling."

So there's Linden Lab's present for the residents. Now if they could only give the third party exchangers a break.

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Video: "SL12B Sneak Peek: 'As The Days Count Down...' "

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Inara Pey's third, and final, sneak peak video of the SL12B exhibits, posted June 16, 2015, "This year, Second Life marks its 12th anniversary, and once again there will be a week long celebration in-world featuring the rich creative and artistic diversity present in this virtual world. On offer will be live entertainment, DJs, talks and presentations, incredible builds by users; games, and more. All at the SL 12th Birthday Community Celebration."

Come join the fun 21st- through 28th June, 2015.

Event blog: http://www.slcommunitycelebration.info/

Get Ready For The SL12B

It's almost time for "The Birthday." At the plots for the exhibits for the Second Life Birthday, the inspections are done, and all that needs to be done are minor tweaks before the sims are officially opened on Sunday at Noon. Gemma Cleanslate has been a busy volunteer behind the scenes at the event. With the event just a few days away, she shares a few thoughts.

Read Gemma's article in Events.